‘Why do I dislike the idea so much? Because I think it is deeply divisive. Because far from making Muslims feel part of the community, it is actually using a sacred custom as a cheap device for cocking a snook at the rest of us…..

Next Tuesday, July 9, is the first day of Ramadan. It is the month of the year when Muslims fast. From sunrise to sundown they are not allowed to swallow food.

It is similar to the Christian season of Lent, in which the faithful are supposed to focus their thoughts more sharply on God and the things of the spirit by an ethos of discipline.

There is nothing wrong with that! And for the 2.8 million Muslims living in Britain, it is a serious time. Very many of them will be observing the fast.

For the 60 million (or so) who are not Muslim, of course, the season would have passed largely unnoticed were it not for the fact that Channel 4 — gesturing wildly to remind the rest of us how controversial it is — has decided that it will broadcast the first call to prayer of the day.